How Is Price Determined?

[hollandhens24]

I posted yesterday asking what to charge for locally sold hatching eggs. I don’t have a closed flock with breeding pens, though I do have desired egg colors in my flock and have attempted to achieve this slowly through raising my own. Therefore I have not invested money that wouldn’t have otherwise been spent for my family to have livestock {and some that have become pets}

I am so curious to know if the prices I’ve seen per dozen, averaging about $65-85 depending on breed, egg colors, etc, are typical, or if I’m somehow making my way to farm pages that are just extra expensive? How are people determining their prices?

 

[hammyanne]

Exciting! I'm a member of a few chicken FB pages in the Hudson Valley (NY) and I see people charging anywhere between $20-$60/dozen. Mostly for barnyard mix. I can't offer any insight as to how people, especially specialty breeders, are pricing their eggs, but here are a few posts from other members I've seen lately:

Zombie eggers: $25/dozen
BBS Marans: $35/dozen
Wyandottes: $30/dozen

Last year I charged $20/dozen for BBS Ameraucanas because I also had some EE in my flock at the time so I couldn't guarantee all eggs would hatch Ameraucanas.

Since these were all local these prices don't reflect shipping costs.

 

[hollandhens24]

Exciting! I'm a member of a few chicken FB pages in the Hudson Valley (NY) and I see people charging anywhere between $20-$60/dozen. Mostly for barnyard mix. I can't offer any insight as to how people, especially specialty breeders, are pricing their eggs, but here are a few posts from other members I've seen lately:

Zombie eggers: $25/dozen
BBS Marans: $35/dozen
Wyandottes: $30/dozen

Last year I charged $20/dozen for BBS Ameraucanas because I also had some EE in my flock at the time so I couldn't guarantee all eggs would hatch Ameraucanas.

Since these were all local these prices don't reflect shipping costs.

Thank you for the information! I’m in Idaho and a local farm that sells eggs and chicks has them priced at $45/dozen for rainbow eggs and $60-$65 for Marans. A farm a few hours away (still Idaho) has rainbow baskets priced at $25/dozen. This broad range just has me a bit puzzled!

 

[hammyanne]

Thank you for the information! I’m in Idaho and a local farm that sells eggs and chicks has them priced at $45/dozen for rainbow eggs and $60-$65 for Marans. A farm a few hours away (still Idaho) has rainbow baskets priced at $25/dozen. This broad range just has me a bit puzzled!

Totally! Ive ordered some speciality eggs from breeders in other states and the prices can be mind boggling, with the average being $120/dozen. But I try to remember that for many of these breeders selling hatching eggs is a big part of their revenue stream and they’re factoring in labor, NPIP certification, shipping costs, etc.

I read your other post and like you, selling hatching eggs isn’t a primary source of income for me so I just try to recoup feed costs which I think is a totally reasonable way to figure out your pricing!

 

[hollandhens24]

Totally! Ive ordered some speciality eggs from breeders in other states and the prices can be mind boggling, with the average being $120/dozen. But I try to remember that for many of these breeders selling hatching eggs is a big part of their revenue stream and they’re factoring in labor, NPIP certification, shipping costs, etc.

I read your other post and like you, selling hatching eggs isn’t a primary source of income for me so I just try to recoup feed costs which I think is a totally reasonable way to figure out your pricing!

How were your hatches from shipped eggs? Did you find that hatching eggs was more economical than ordering straight run chicks of the same quality? I would love to add some breeds to my flock with a focus on egg color, but have been nervous about spending that much on hatching eggs vs ordering straight run from the same producers, since it is just a hobby as you said This is why I posed the pricing question! I want to add without breaking the bank, but am also willing to pay reasonably for quality.

 

[SourRoses]

Pure breeds always go for more. The reason being the extra years and effort selecting for traits and improving the stock. It means raising and culling a lot of chickens in search of near-perfection.

The rarer a pure breed is, the more expensive. Because the breeder has either imported the stock or paid a lot for the stock to begin with... Or even created the breed, which takes around 5-10 years (or more) of effort and expense, to truly call it that.

However, breeds that are pretty commonly offered, typically sell for less due to market competition.
For instance, Marans are pretty popular and therefore widely available. So the starting price on Marans eggs is lower than many other rare breeds.
YET, quality of the line matters... So if in that example, the Marans lay especially dark eggs, the hatching egg price goes up.
Likewise, lines of pure breeds of a high enough quality to yield some show quality offspring will also go for more than their introductory level counterparts.

When it comes to mixes, the price will be lower. But just how low usually depends on the practical purpose of the mix.
Mixes to yield specific egg colors - olive eggers, blue easter eggers, etc.
Mixes to ramp up production numbers.
Mixes to grow faster/better meat birds.
These are all going to go for a bit more than mixes created "just because".
There's also a huge glut on the market of people selling BYM (Back Yard Mix) chickens. Any kind of add for them just doesn't pop or appeal to people. So buyers are less frequent and that drives the price down further.

Typical prices I see per dozen are:
Random BYM $20
Purpose bred Mix $30-50
Common Purebreds $50-80
High quality Purebreds $80-150
Rare Breeds $80-150
Rare and High Quality $120-220
Anything over that is always a matter of hype that usually dies down in time.